Reducing Uncertainty in Contrail Radiative Forcing Resulting from Uncertainty in Ice Crystal Properties.

ABSTRACT: The radiative forcing resulting from condensation clouds behind aircraft ("contrails") has been estimated to have an effect on the same order of magnitude as all accumulated aviation-attributable CO₂. However, contrail impacts are highly uncertain, with estimates of total contrail-driven forcing made in the past five years varying by a factor of 4. Two of the key driving uncertainties are the crystal shape and size, which describe the cloud optical properties. Here we combine data from high-fidelity scattering simulations of single crystals with in situ measurement of bulk contrail ice properties to bound the range of realistic optical properties for contrail ice. Accounting for the full range of measured contrail microphysical evolution pathways, and for a given estimate

SUBMITTER: Sanz-Morere I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7313655 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature